This invention relates to a transport vehicle, but more specifically, to an amphibious utility trailer that conventionally hauls a load over and also ferries a vehicle when underway across a waterway.
In the sports and recreational field, there is often a need to extend the usefulness of an all terrain vehicle (ATV) or other land vehicle over various waterways, such as rivers, lakes, and the like. Prior solutions include providing a ferry vessel to transport the ATV over water, and in a recent development, providing floatation gear that is removably attached to the land vehicle itself. An illustration of the latter concept is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Publication 2006/0063439 by Krucker, which discloses detachable pontoons for an ATV where the pontoons themselves include detachable trailer wheels and a telescoping tongue to permit land towing. When attached to the ATV, propulsion is provided by the submerged tread grips of the ATV tires, or alternatively, is provided by a separate outboard motor attached to a frame supporting the pontoon floats.
U.S. Pat. Publication 2002/0134295 to Chimato discloses an amphibious trailer suitable for towing a load within a cabin thereof over land or water; however, it too includes a separate outboard or similar motor for marine propulsion.
It is more advantageous, however, to provide a utility trailer having a traditional land-towing capability for hauling a load or a vehicle and yet also provide amphibious operation to ferry a vehicle over water. Prior apparatuses addressing the combination of land hauling and marine ferrying capabilities are disclosed, for example, by U.S. Pat. No. 6,861,382 to Carter and by U.S. Pat. No. 7,021,228 to Robb. Each discloses a floating trailer towable through water by a boat, as well as being towable over land by a tow vehicle. These trailers, however, either lack power in their land or water-towable configuration or require a separate engine for marine propulsion. In a more recent development disclosed in U.S. Pat. Publication 2002/0002939 to Beauchesne et al., there is disclosed an amphibious hull having a single engine to provide both land and marine locomotion. Overall, prior apparatuses tend to be specialty trailers having little or no practical utility for the needs of everyday life.
Thus, it is an objective of the present invention to provide an amphibious utility trailer to haul a vehicle or other load over land and that ferries the vehicle over water where the ferried vehicle provides marine propulsive power and/or steering control for the utility trailer when underway through water.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a plain and simple land-towable flatbed trailer having traditional utility for hauling conventional items for home, farm, sporting, rural, or recreational use; and yet also provide marine transport of a powered land vehicle.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an amphibious trailer vehicle that obviates the need for marine registration or licensing for traversing waterways.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a quick and convenient removable coupling between the trailer's marine propulsion and steering with the ferried vehicle's wheel torque and/or steering mechanism in order to “drive” the trailer over water utilizing the power and/or steering of the ferried vehicle.
Advantages over prior systems of providing such an apparatus include obviating a need to license the amphibious trailer as a marine vessel (since it has no onboard engine), providing use and operation as a conventional utility trailer to haul other items over land, and providing an amphibious trailer conveniently controllable by the ferried vehicle, i.e., an ATV, which provides propulsive power and/or steering control.